H&R Block At Home tax software does not support Electric Vehicle credit

If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Dennis,
I have been using H&R Block/Taxcut since 1997 until last year. I was amazed to find they did not support the EV tax credit, nor the charging station one either. I called them up and was told they would support it in the future. Apparently not!

So, after 14 years of faithfully using TaxCut, I switched to TurboTax. It was a smooth switch. It even imported the data from H&R Block's 2010 return. I'm not sure which one I will go with this year.

I have been a faithful user of Turbotax ever since the feds made it IMPOSSIBLY complicated to calculate how much tax you owe by using some kind of table that incorporates capital gains before you get to the bottom line. I could even do the corporate 1120S by hand until that point. Nevermore. The calculations are just too cumbersome.

Turbotax has its issues too. I could list a couple if I thought about it for a bit. Bottom line, though, is, as I used to give lectures on, Success begins when you refuse to let OTHER people do YOUR thinking for YOU! Everyone should know what tax breaks they qualify for, and income limits, before they ever pick up a form, talk to an 'expert', or sit down with software. If you know what to look for, as OP points out with this thread, you can let the 'experts' actually do what you pay them to do (which is a WASTE, most of the time imho) or go looking for what you need in the software or instructions.

In this case, it is just too early to fool around with the forms or software yet. I can't get going until late February and my 1120S has to be done before I can tackle personal stuff. There is a button in Turbotax to go out and look for updates and there are ALWAYS updates by that time. So relax, the IRS just got over Congress dealing with the 'cliff' a handful of days ago. If you expect government to work that fast, you live in Fantasy Land.

In my case, it is not too early to fool around. I am self employed and make quarterly tax payments. The final one for the current tax year is due on Tuesday and I was trying to get at least a rough estimate on where I stand now in order not to overpay my final quarterly payment.

Ari, thanks for the info about the easy transition to TurboTax. Thanks to the other posters for their suggestions on alternative tax software and refund possibilities.

Advertisement

I have been a user of H&R Block's tax software for about 20 years. Last night, I started entering data for my 2012 taxes and found that their software does not support the IRS Form 8936 where one can claim the $7500 tax credit for purchasing a Volt in 2012.

I called H&R Block customer support and they told me the IRS form is not available and they had no plans to include entry of the 8936 into their software calculations.

I checked the IRS website and saw that the Form 8936 they have posted is for tax year 2011.

I don't imagine the there will be any substantive changes to the form for tax year 2012 but find it odd that they are still showing it for 2011.

I have read some threads here about TurboTax supporting Form 8936 and having it automatically include it in the "interview" process of entering data. Is this correct for 2012 version?

I guess I will be switching to TurboTax.

I wonder whether this form will get included when H&R Taxcut issues their next update on Jan 24th. I noticed that my screen includes statement that the interview is not complete and more forms will become available on that day. Hope lives eternal! Switching to another software is a bit tricky if you have complex returns with past years' rollover AMT deductible depreciation, K-1s and other fun stuff. I also know that normally, if they do not support a particular form, they would let you fill it out "by hand" (i.e. manually in the "view forms" menu. I simply suspect they have not received the final form from the IRS.

I wonder whether this form will get included when H&R Taxcut issues their next update on Jan 24th. I noticed that my screen includes statement that the interview is not complete and more forms will become available on that day. Hope lives eternal! Switching to another software is a bit tricky if you have complex returns with past years' rollover AMT deductible depreciation, K-1s and other fun stuff. I also know that normally, if they do not support a particular form, they would let you fill it out "by hand" (i.e. manually in the "view forms" menu. I simply suspect they have not received the final form from the IRS.

I just looked at the final version last year's of TaxCut and I do not see Form 8936 included in the list of forms, which is consistent with what I have seen on the H&R Block forums. Hope can spring eternal, but I must say that I am not optimistic about them including the EV form in any of their upcoming 2012 updates. Given that it appears the IRS has not released the 2012 Form 8936 yet, I suppose I cannot hold H&R Block totally at issue here. I would feel better about it if last year's version did include the form.

I take your other point as I do have a bunch of carry over tax items that I would like the software to automatically handle for me and in the past, I did have some unusual write offs that required forms not included in either TurboTax or TaxCut, so I did have to manually complete these forms but I could not electronically file.

Yes, it is true H&R Block At Home doesn't support form 8936, but I think I've found a workaround. Once you've completed your tax return (sans form 8936), override your form 1040.

I just filled out the form 8936 manually (well, on the computer using the 8936 pdf), and then followed the instructions to enter the amount on line 53 (check c and specify form 8936). You can do this by overriding the value in form 1040 line 53 (right click on the entry and select Override). It will recalculate your form. I then manually scanned my tax return to make sure nothing wrong happened. It looked like it worked just fine. I saved my return prior to making this change and then saved with a new name after overriding. The only difference I see is that the $7500 tax credit is applied and my tax burden was reduced by said amount.

So, if you've already purchased H&R Block At Home and don't mind the hack, it does seem to work. Haven't gone to my State Taxes yet, but I imagine the override carries over.